


Besties

by Wicked_Sonniku



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: But just a little, Developing Relationship, F/F, Headcanon that Marco is Bi, Janna being sarcastic, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Self-Discovery, Why Did I Write This?, but only for a little bit, don't hate me, not much angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-11 07:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11709888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wicked_Sonniku/pseuds/Wicked_Sonniku
Summary: Best friends are great. No denying it. They listen to you whine about how hard Algebra class is and how gross today's mystery meat was and how it TOTALLY ruined your hoodie, jam out to your weird, half-goth girl music with you,  talk to you about why Call of Duty has so many games, hang out in cemeteries with you willingly.....yeah. Best friends are great. Right up until you discover you're helplessly in love with them.





	1. In Which Janna Does Some Thinking

**Author's Note:**

> I just.....I don't.....*sigh*

It was a three A.M moment.

 

You know, one of those moments where you drank too much of something sugary before bed, or you've been up all day binge watching your favorite show, or you're up worrying about a math test you're probably going to fail but you can't bring yourself to admit it so you're halfway mental studying and halfway freaking out very, very, silently?

It was during these moments that Janna Ordonia decided to text Star Butterfly.

Her best friend wasn't always up at this time of night (or morning?), but when she was, the princess seemed to always know the right thing to say that either kept her up another hour talking or helped them both to sleep. Both worked. 

 

' _U up? '_

 

Janna's fingers flew effortlessly over the keyboard as she typed the familiar message. She barely had time to slide herself up in bed, propping a pillow behind her to keep her back supported, before her phone 'dinged' with a response, and a pink notification light flashed three times exactly. Smiling slightly, Janna clicked over to the text log, running her fingers through her tangled bed-head. 

 

' _yup :) '_

 

' _math test?_ ' They did, in fact, have a math test tomorrow, but really, who the hell remembered how to divide fractions by whole numbers and then revert that to a decimal, and also times the mass of the sun, or whatever it was that their teacher insisted on drilling into their heads during class. 

 

' _.....math test >.<_' 

 

Janna snorted as the message came through, quickly typing a response. 

 

' _you don't always have to use emoticons, man_ '

Coming from Mewni, the bubbly princess was, of course, enthralled by all things technology on Earth, but it wasn't until after Marco's parents had very kindly decided to buy her a smartphone of her own that she had discovered emojis, and it was love at first damn sight. One quick scroll through the text messages she and Star had exchanged throughout their time as friends, and once could safely say that they had been to see a higher budget rendition of the actual Emoji Movie (and yes, Janna had been forced along to a showing of the actual, low budget film. Best friends, right?). 

 

Janna'a phone signaled once more, and the teen had difficulty fighting down a smirk as she clicked back over to the text log and found herself staring........at the Emoji Movie 2.  _God damn it, Star._ Leaning back into her pillow, she simply sent a 'white flag' emoticon in response, letting her best friend know that she was giving up.....for now. Star might've won this round, but once Marco, Jackie and Tom were up and in the group chat it was so  _on._ Round Two. The final frontier. The last standoff. Total GIF annihilation. Deciding to change the topic, Janna sent another text Star's way before her best friend responded. 

 

' _Marco up? You know he hates your text notification'_  Marco was usually up at this time less than Star was, but that didn't mean that a few more of these late night (early morning?) conversations than Janna would've liked were ended very abruptly by  a very angry Latino teen. After all, Star wasn't the type of person to really mute her phone for any occasion. However she _was_ the type of person to have the single loudest notification sound on her phone that had probably ever been invented. Another text was swiftly received. 

 

' _He spent the night over Tom's_ '

 

Janna's eyebrows did an involuntary jump to her hairline. Marco had spent the night at Tom's place? On a school night? Before a math test that he most definitely knew was coming? Sure, he and the demon were actually super close friends now and all that, and it wasn't unusual to hear that the two were hanging out any day of the week, but usually Marco drew  the imaginary line in the sand whenever it came to his 'bro time' actually interfering with studies and or school the next morning. He was always home by a certain time, Star said. It wasn't the first time that he'd spent the night over at his friend's house, or vice versa, but this was definitely unusual for the two. Well, not for Tom, since he didn't exactly.....go to school.....did he? Anyway, even if he did have some kind of schooling, it never seemed to matter that much to him, as he was always asking Marco to stay over a few more minutes, even on Sundays. She'd come to get Marco from the demon's house with Star enough times to see this. For as much as he liked to lecture everyone else, that boy had the _worst_ sense of time, honestly. But that wasn't the point. Narrowing her eyes, Janna typed a message back to her friend. 

 

' _on a school night?'_

 

 Janna had also spent the night at her friend's house (one might argue that it was actually Marco's house, but let someone stick a giant ass castle turret on the side of your house and _try_ to tell them that by some law somewhere, at least half of it belonged to them) before on a school night, but usually Janna just brought clothes over and they could just catch the bus together in the morning. But sleeping over in another dimension was maybe, just maybe, possibly, perhaps just a bit harder to recover from at 6:00 A.M, ten or so minutes before the school bus was set to arrive. Her phone lit up, snapping her out of her brief reverie and alerting her to another text.

 

' _yeah_ _....weird, right? 0w0 but he said not to worry about it, so..._ '

 

 Shrugging, Janna decided to just drop it. After all, Star still didn't entirely trust Tom like Marco did, so the topic was probably just upsetting her. She'd just snag a look at Marco's diar-ahem. Journal (totally a diary), tomorrow. She tried to reinstate the playful banter with her friend. Inject a sense of normality back into the conversation. For some reason, it just felt like the right thing to do. 

 

' _i don't think you should be lecturing anyone on weird_ '

 

Star's response was even quicker than the other ones.

 

' _you love me ;)_ '

 ..........

Hm.

 

For the first time, Janna's fingers hovered uncertainly over her keyboard, and the dark-haired teen truly didn't know what to say. Should she say that she  _did_ love Star? Or would that just make things too weird? Would her friend know where she was coming from? And where  _was_ she coming from? 

She set her phone down on her lap gently, watching as the screen slowly faded to black. Sure, she loved Star. Sure. But it was a friend thing. You know....the way you love a good dog. Or....or a good movie. Or the beach.

It had never been a secret to herself that she liked girls more than guys.

That had been certain since Twilight, when she had been so interested in the way that the tank top Bella was wearing rode up on her back that she forgot to bite her lip, pull at her hair, and whimper whenever Jacob's shirt came off for the second time in two scenes. 

But she's never thought about Star like that. That was just too weird. They were best friends, how awkward would that have been? Well, when she'd first met her, yeah, sort of. But that had been buried. Six feet under. As soon as she and Star actually became close.

Sure, her hair was probably the silkiest, fluffiest, greatest smelling thing that had ever been under Janna's fingers, and sure, the hearts on her cheeks were adorable, and yeah, she had the prettiest smile the world had ever seen, and whatever, she was the sweetest, most considerate thing, and she hadn't run away at the mention of the word "dubstep" and had the nerve to actually enjoy it, and so what, that she was probably the only girl in school actually hang out with someone in a damn cemetery, because really, who does that?

 

.............

 

Damn it. 

 

 

 

 


	2. In Which Marco Is Trying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the writing of this story began pre-S3, so in this, both of Tom's parents are demons.

"Marco! Marco, can you pass me the orange juice?"

"Mmmf...."

"Marco. That's the milk. And your sleeve is in your cereal. Gross. Marco! Will you wake up, already?"

"I got it."

"Ow!"

 

Marco sat bolt upright, bending down to rub his ankle and glaring daggers, albeit slightly droopy daggers, at Janna from across the breakfast table. "I'm awake," he hissed, jabbing his spoon into his still quite full bowl of corn flakes, but not taking a bite.  Janna, however, simply grinned, folding her arms in victory and glancing at Star, who was very horribly trying to cover up her laughter with the carton of orange juice. 

"Now you are."

Star set the carton down, pouting in mock pity and buttering a piece of toast much too smugly for it to be believable. "You wouldn't be so tired if you hadn't spent the night with a certain demon and had been studying for the math test today, hm?" Marco rolled his eyes in response. "Firstly, I'm back on time, aren't I? Secondly, I think we both know that I _totally_ studied. Thirdly, I think we also both know that studying is the one thing you did not do last night, okay?" 

Truthfully, though he'd never say it aloud, he didn't plan on staying the night over Tom's. He really meant to leave at 9. That was his cutoff on school nights. Always. But.....it was just different somehow this time. Maybe it was the new Call of Duty game that his friend had recently gotten. Maybe Marshmallow was being exceptionally cute. Maybe it was the fact that Tom had finally  confided in him about why he'd been so snappy lately, that it was a fight that he had had with his father that day, and he had gotten closer to tears than Marco had ever seen him, and he just couldn't make himself leave the demon alone last night, no matter what.

 One of those things. 

 Star scoffed, dropping her toast back on her plate with a spray of crumbs that made him internally wince and tossing her long blonde hair behind her shoulder indignantly, barely missing the puddle of milk that had pooled around her own bowl of cereal. "Tch! I so  _did_ study! And besides, at least I'm gonna be able to stay awake during the test, unlike  _some_ people. And two minutes before the bus is supposed to be here is  _not_ on time. You're lucky I'm the awesome best friend that I am and that I had already laid out a kick-ass breakfast for all of us." 

Marco snorted, propping his head in his hands. "Hm. So, that's why the bacon was burnt." 

Star's face colored to the hue of a tomato, and her cheeks puffed up like a blow fish. "Well-" she spluttered, "If you would've been here to cook, I wouldn't have been _forced_ to do this on my own. You're just being a bad friend. All your fault, all day, not mine, ever."

Marco nibbled the edge of his toast. " Well, if you'd payed attention when I tried to teach you, it wouldn't have been a problem, would it?"

Star smacked the tabletop with her spoon, sticking her tongue out as far as it would go. "Well, it's your fault for being boring!"

"I am  _not_ boring!" 

"Yuh- _huh_!"

" _Callate! Chica rubia estupida!"_

"Hey! I know you're talking about me! We said no Spanish!  _Janna!_ Back me up!"

Star's own hair nearly slapped her across the face as she whipped around angrily to face her friend, who had been unusually quiet this entire time. What she found herself facing was the camouflage print of Janna's phone case, the girl's face completely hidden behind it and the camera blinking.  Brown eyes peeked over the top of the phone, lit up with amusement. "No, no. Don't mind me. Just....act natural." Star growled, snatching up her wand from the table and brandishing it in front of her like a sword, the look in her eye steely enough to send a Western star running. "Janna, I swear, I will turn that thing into a piranha." 

" _Estoy seguro."_

" _What did I say!?"_

_*********_

"C'mon.....answer me, Tom."

Poking fun at Star in the morning had improved Marco's mood somewhat, but now he was concerned all over again. Tom had texted him-he  _never_ texted him during school-in math, asking him if they could talk. Marco had replied sensibly, telling him that he was in class and it would have to wait until later. He hadn't received a response. Now it  _was_ later and he was texting Tom and there was still no answer.

' _Tom? U okay? Don't leave me hanging dude'_

_'Tom? C'mon man answer'_

' _This better not be a prank asshole'_

_'TOM!!!!'_

The soggy end of one of Marco's hoodie strings hung from his mouth as he chewed on it nervously, his eyes scanning the crowded lunchroom as if his friend would suddenly appear in a burst of flames and explain what the hell his problem was. He clutched his phone tight with slightly sweaty palms, scrolling restlessly through his text logs in hopes that a new one would pop up. His lunch sat uneaten and growing cold in front of him. He knew he was probably overreacting, but he knew Tom, and he knew his temper. Terrible things could happen if he spun out of control. He just wanted to make sure the demon hadn't done anything he would regret. And then there was that thing last night....

He jumped hard as his phone buzzed, almost frantically stabbing his thumb at the notification. It was Tom. 

_'hey...'_

Despite himself, Marco felt a twinge of irritation at the short message. He'd freaked Marco out, and all he had to say was "hey"?

_'Dude, what the hell was that? You scared me. Don't do that.'_

_'i'm sorry. can I call you?'_

_'Yeah, I guess. I need an explanation.'_

When he heard his friend's voice over the phone, any residual bitterness melted away in an instant. It was stuffy, warbling and weak, and Marco knew instinctively that he'd been crying. It was like the world was shattering around him. Tom never even let others see him upset. The sound of his distress sent a sharp twinge of sympathy through Marco's chest.

"H-Hey..." Marco was too stunned to speak for a few moments. He swallowed hard before answering. "Hey...are you okay?"

Tom sniffled, and Marco's stomach twisted with a confusing mix of emotions. 

"I'm g-gonna _kill_ him one day.....S-swear I will. I'm gonna k-kill him, Marco!"

"...Your dad?"

Tom let loose a shaky sob. 

"I h-h- _hate_ him. He thought one of his s-stupid attendants disrespected him. A-And he said it was a good opportunity for m-me to learn how to be a r-ruthless King. He....."

Tom's voice hitched again, and he sniffled several times before continuing. Marco didn't dare to interrupt him.

"H-He w-w-wanted me to....he told m-me to....to  _kill_ him, Marco. H-he handed m-me a sword and....and the guy was j-just _kneeling_ there and c-crying.....I c-c-couldn't do it! I couldn't d-do it, Marco. I couldn't. I s-said no. I-I said n-no, and....." Another sob. "A-and h-he hit me....it wasn't the f-first time, but he usually s-stops after one or two....but he kept  _going_ , and it h-h- _hurt_ , and he was calling m-me weak and saying I could n-never be King....."

At this point, the telling of this story seemed to prove too much for Tom, and he dissolved into hiccupping sobs. Marco felt almost dizzy listening to him cry, and suddenly he couldn't stand to hear it any longer. 

"I'm coming over," he blurted, despite the fact that it was still very much the middle of the school day. "Is...Is that okay?" 

"Y-You....You won't get in trouble?" 

"Doesn't matter. I'll go get Star's scissors and be there soon, okay?"

".....Okay." 

 

When Marco arrived in Tom's room, the first thing he noticed was the sudden darkness. He could barely see his fingers in front of his face. He turned the flashlight on his phone on, and as he shone it around the room, his throat tightened increasingly. 

The room was a wreck. Furniture was flung all around the room, Tom's bed even turned completely upside down. Sooty black burn marks, as high as the ceiling, were scattered here and there, along with what looked like, disturbingly, claw marks. Comic books, blankets, and video game cases were ripped up and strewn about, along with Marshmallow's little pink bed. Shards of glass from Tom's mirror lay on the floor, which he made sure to avoid, placing his feet with care. But, where was....?

"Marco?" The whisper came from the corner, where a form huddled like a kicked dog. Tom was swathed in the remains of one of his blankets, pulled tight against his body. As Marco got closer, he could see dark streaks coming down the demon's cheeks, and on his forehead underneath his third eye. So he  _did_ wear mascara...Tom's pink hair stuck up all over his head in every which way, and under normal circumstances, he would've been quick to make fun of his friend for it. But not today, as he knew that Tom's messy locks had most likely been the result of vicious pulling, as opposed to a bad case of bed head. Marshmallow sat in Tom's lap, still, probably sensing that comfort and security was what her master needed right now. The demon was squinting and hunching down further in the glare of Marco's flashlight, so he dimmed it substantially, leaving just enough glow for him to see by. 

Carefully, setting his phone down on the floor in the space between them, Marco sat himself next to his friend, like how an animal trainer might approach an aggressive dog. He held out a hand tentatively. He didn't know how the demon would respond to his touch, but it was always what his parents did to make his feel better about something. "Can I?" 

Tom hesitated, narrowing his eyes a little at the hand, but then he slowly leaned himself into Marco, pressing their sides together and resting his head on his shoulder. Marco's hand fell to his friend's back, and he began rubbing in a slow, comforting circle. He felt Tom shiver at the contact. It was several minutes before he felt the other boy's muscles unclench and slowly relax, the demon melting a little into him. "Feel better?"

"....Thank you." 

"No problem. You're my best friend. You need anything, I'll be here."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Could you....could you stay the night again? I don't...I don't wanna be alone..."

"......Sure." 


End file.
